Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-03-04

How 1t was Won by President White and
How Near he Came to Losing it,

In the account given by ex-Presldent
White of Cornell of his early education,
in the pages of the Forum, he gives the
following account of how he won the
De Forest oratorical prize;
1t was my fortune to secure sundry
prizes offered for essays; among them,
the first Clark prize, the Yale literary
prize and the De Forest prize. The his
tory of this latter success may serve to
show certain ways in which influence can
be exerted powerfully upon a young man.
AS regards the subject it was suggested
by hearing Edwin Forest in Bulwers
drama of Richelieu. The character of the
great cardinal, the greatest statesman that
France has produced, made deep
impression upon me, and suggested
the subjects in both the Yale literary and
the De Forest competitions, giving me
not only the initial impulse, but main
tanning that interest in the work to which
the result was largely due. Another spur
to success was even more effective. | one
day received a telegram from my father,
asking me to meet him in New York. l
did so, and passed an hour with him, all
the time at loss to know why he had sent
for me. AS was leaving the hotel to re-
turn to New Haven. he said, "By the way,
there is still another prize, the largest
| of all, to be competed for" Yes ! an
swered, 1.-The De Forest; but | have little
/
of the six Townsend prize men admitted
to the petition, there are other speak
ers so much better that | have little hope
| of taking it," He gave me rather scornful
| look and said very impressively, III were
one of the first six competitors, III class
of over hundred men, | should try very
hard to be the first one" He said nothing
| more except good bye. On my way to
New Haven | thought much of this, and,
on arriving, went TO an elocutionist and
| engaged him for course of vocal
gymnastics. When he wished me to re
cite my Grafton before him, | declined,
| saving that it must be spoken in my own
way, not in his ; that his way might be
better but that mine was my own, and /
would have no other. He confined him
| self therefore, to a course OF vocal gym
nastics alone, and the result was sur
| prise TO myself and all my friends. My
! voice, from being weak and hollow, be
came round, strong and flexible | then
| went to student in the class ABOVE my
own, natural and forclble speaker, ana
| made an arrangement with nm TO near
me pronounce my grafton, and TO crltlclse
| II in a common sense way. This he did.
| At passages where he thought my
method wrong, he raised his finger, gave
| me an imitation of my own manner, then
gave the passage in the way he thought
| best. and allowed me to choose between
| his and mine The result was that al the
nublic competition was successful This
! eyperiepce taught me what | conceive to
| he the true theory of evolutionary training
! i'm our universities vocal gymnastics on
one side, common sense criticism on the
| other.
But there were other competitors for
the De Forest prize, and one of them was
very nearly successful in winning it, Or
A. j. Willard of this city was a classmate
of President Whites at Yale, and was one
of the six competitors for the DE Forest
prize. After the decision had been rem
dered in favor of Mr.. White, Mr.. wizard
was informed by one of the judges, mem
Der of the Yale faculty, that they were
about equally divided between Mt " h'le
and Mr.. Willard, and that only after muCh
discussion the prize was finally awarded
to Mr.. White by majority of one Dr.
Willard informs us that, although ne
came so near winning this prize, he TOOK
no lessons in elocution for that purpose
and spoke his piece just as nature
taught him. The high esteem in which
the Judges of the De Forest prize held the
effort of Mr.. Willard was a distinguished
compliment, and one which, we have no
doubt, was well deserved.